| In regard to local vocals. You first have to get the product, vocalist
into top condition before attempting any vocal tracks. Because
your voice is an instrument, it must practice every day for at least
a half an hour. Because the voice is a muscle, like your body
muscles, in order to keep it in shape is to use it. Practicing
vocal scales like 5 notes up and 5 notes down up to your highest
and lowest notes will not only increase the strength of the voice,
but it will also broaden your vocal range; making it easier to hit
those hard to reach notes. Once you have done this for a least
a month, you should be in good enough condition to lay down the
vocal tracks. Personally as a vocalist, I use always record vocals
dry (no effects) while listening through headphones with a little
effects mixed through. After the track has been laid down, effects
are mixed in. I use the Art digital reverb, Roland SDE-3000 digital
delay unit, Aural exciter to bring out the highs and give the vocals
more clarity. The delay and reverb help smooth out the sound and
masks imperfections. Although, using too much can make it sound
muddy and overprocessed. As far as microphones, I use an SM58
temporarily until I get a better studio mic. Another very important
aspect is the equalization of the vocal track. Record with lots
of high end because it gives more clarity and its easier to take
out high end than it is to add. This is because adding high end
increases tape hiss once the track is laid down.
I hope this helps...
Ellen (the Midiwife)
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I'm just starting to get into the engineering side of things myself,
but I can mention a few things that I've noticed from our studio
sessions. Having a good mike seemed to be very key. We used an AKG
412, and it was amazing how much clearer it was than any of our
road mikes. The sensitivity was phenomenal. Our engineer ran the
vocal through a compressor, a short delay (for the first reflections),
and then through a reverberator (all digital). I think that he recorded
the vocal with the effects in, but I'm not sure. The compressor
was for evening out the dynamics, and the short delay was for filling
in the first echoes. The reverberator was the type that can select
the size of the perceived room as well as a few other parameters.
The room we recorded in was a "dead" room -- sound absorbing material
covered the walls and ceiling. Our engineer found the optimal place
for the mike by clapping listening for echoes.
As far as cost of equipment goes, the stuff I mentioned is pretty
pricey. I think the AKG lists out over a grand (anyone know for
sure?) I still think it is worth getting a good mike. After all,
it is the first component on the signal path (besides yourself of
course!) I've heard a lot of good things about the AKG 414 which
cost around $575.
A good alternative to buying a whole effects rack is the new Yamaha
SPX-90. This is a multi-effect component which will do all the things
I mentioned plus more (compression, gating, reverb, echo, harmonizing).
The only drawback is that it can only do one effect at a time, but
it only costs $650 (at LaSalle) whereas a good effects rack can
run thousands.
- Joe Chung
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